


Play Doctor

by Sodalicious_Froggy



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: (and others but they're only there briefly), (which is mildly described), Ambiguous/Open Ending, Light Angst, M/M, Major Character Injury, Mann vs. Machine, Respawn failure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:54:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25802440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sodalicious_Froggy/pseuds/Sodalicious_Froggy
Summary: It’s the final wave and everyone’s just about ready to keel over, including and especially Medic.…Whoops?
Relationships: Engineer/Medic (Team Fortress 2)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 51





	Play Doctor

**Author's Note:**

> another tumblr req! based off of this prompt:
> 
> _*quietly steps in* writing prompt........ one of them gets badly injured in a scenario where respawn is down. :) *quietly steps out*_

After weeks upon months of battling the infernal things, the last wave of Grey Mann’s robots had finally come. Miss Pauling had called in the night before, warning them that this was going to be the biggest one of all, but even then, none of them were quite ready for the sheer amount of metal men coming after their asses that day.

From the current trajectory, Engie could tell there were going to be almost, if not, a thousand of them, having stayed most of the wave on top of the building directly in front of where the robots came through with his Wrangler in hand and shotgun at the ready.

“Hey, Engie, you holdin’ up aight?” Scout asked as he sprinted his way up the stairs and directly for the dispenser to pick up refill of bullets.

“Just about holdin’ down the fort. How about y'all?”

“We’re managin’, I think! Doc’s not lookin’ too hot though.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, we’re tryin’ to make it easier for him since he’s literally like the only thing other than your dispenser keepin’ us alive right now ever since respawn went kaput, but compared to him there’s lots of us and even more robots so it’s kinda hard to keep together ‘n’ stuff.”

It was then that Soldier had let out a rather annoyed sounding “BIG ROBOT!” at the sight of a giant Heavy approaching, both Engie and Scout looking over when they’d heard him.

“And I think that’s my cue! Thanks for the bullets, Hardhat!” Scout nodded at him, reloading his Scattergun before hopping down the stairs two at a time and running back in for a rumble.

Engie, meanwhile, looked out over the sea of crumpled dollars and miscellaneous robot parts, scanning the field before his eyes locked on Medic. Even though he was a little ways away from him, he could see what Scout meant, frowning slightly as he let go of the Wrangler’s joystick so his sentry could pick off any robo Scouts that happened to make themselves a nuisance.

Medic looked both mentally and physically exhausted, but he was still running after everyone else at top speed, deploying his shield and uber as often as he could while making sure that anyone who died, no matter how far away, got revived as soon as he realized they were no longer breathing.  
It was excruciating work and Medic had been doing it almost every day for at least the past 2 months, having been practically forced to sharpen and hone his skills when the respawn machine had finally decided to kick the bucket when they were in the middle of repairs.

As the rest of their teammates focused on getting the giant to its knees (Scout in particular going around and bullying the two robo Medics it’d been sent in with), Medic had deployed his shield and stood directly in front of the robo Heavy, slowly backing up as it made its way forward with the bomb on it’s back with various teammates standing a ways behind him.

In his concentration to not fall over or let anyone get riddled with bullets, however, he didn’t notice the Spybot that had crept up behind him, Engie’s eyes widened as he yelled out a startled “MEDIC!” in an attempt to get his attention.

However, Medic could only barely hear him over the explosion of the giant, turning around only to get stabbed right in the back of his left shoulder and letting out a scream that made Engie’s blood run cold.

Without even thinking, he activated his sentry’s shield and grabbed his shotgun before flying down the stairs to his left and running directly to where Medic had fallen over, shooting the Spybot to death before turning his attention to his healer boyfriend.

“Hey sweetheart, you still with me?” Engie asked as he carefully picked up Medic and all his gear, only getting a pitiful gurgle in response as Medic coughed up some blood onto his sleeve.

“…Ok, on second though, just don’t talk,” He grimaced as he hurried his way back up the stairs, carefully laying Medic on his side in front of his dispenser and unclipping the Medipack to reduce the stress on his body.

In the meantime, there seemed to be a reprieve in the number of robots coming, most likely so that Grey Mann could get ready to send out whatever final punishing attack he had stored up his sleeve. The rest of the team made quick work on the stragglers before making their way back to resupply one final time as Engie reached for some of the supplies he kept in the dispenser, pulling out a towel, a vial of healing gel, bandages, and medical tape.

“Alright, I’m gonna take this little number out of your back now so you can actually heal up properly so uh. Sorry, in advance,” Engie mumbled as consolingly as he could, Medic barely mustering enough strength to gurgle back before he was screaming in pain again.

“I know honey, I know, I’m sorry,” Engie winced as Medic coughed and wheezed for breath, throwing the knife over the edge before applying pressure to the stab wound to lessen the blood flow while letting the dispenser do it’s work in actually healing it.

When he started wheezing less, Engie let go and wiped his hands with the towel he took out so he could actually hold things. He then took the vial of healing gel, popped off the cap, ripped through a bit of Medic’s clothing, and used the towel to soak up some of the excess blood before slathering gel on his still rather awful looking wound and covering it in bandages and medical tape.

He then readjusted Medic so that his head was in his lap, carefully pushing his hair out of his face and pushing his cracked glasses further up his nose so they wouldn’t fall off.

“That a little better?”

Medic coughed a few times but nodded, attempting to sit up and reach for his gear only to collapse back into Engie’s lap.

“Fuck. No, no, no, not now,” Medic whined softly, Engie grimacing slightly.

“Sorry starry eyes, I don’t think you’ll be getting back up any time soon.”

“I don’t have a choice. They- they’re going to get destroyed out there without me,” Medic hissed, making another attempt to get up before Engie stopped him.

“Honey, you’re exhausted. I was honestly surprised you were still standing before you got stabbed in the back but I think that was the tipping point that told your body to give up.”

Medic didn’t say anything for a few moments but Engie could see the deeply panicked look in his tired eyes as he tried to think of something he could do.

“I. I can’t. They need a healer, what.. What am I going to do?”

Engie thought about it before taking a deep breath.

“I’ll do it.”

“…What??”

“I’ll do it. I’ll take your place until the wave is over.”

“Engie… Are you sure? Do you really think you can keep up with them all?”

“Honey, I have no idea, but I know if you go in there again, you’re going to die. Full stop. And if you die, everyone else is gonna follow after. Besides, I’ve worked on the Medigun enough to know how it works, and a rusty healer is better than no healer.”

Medic seemed to mull it over before sighing, still obviously unhappy about the situation but a little less… reluctant.“

"Ok. Alright. Fine.”

“Yeah?”

“But… What am I going to do, then? I can’t just sit here and watch you all suffer,” Medic frowned.  
An idea then came to Engie’s head as he reached for the Wrangler (that he may or may not had carelessly thrown to the side before he’d gone to get Medic), offering it to him.

“Think you can still aim?”

Medic looked at both him and it warily.

“It won’t fire at the team or nothin’ if you accidentally point the beam at one of us. Safety’s still on. And you could always just let go and let it autoaim if there ain’t anythin’ you need to focus.”  
He hesitated once more before sighing.

“…Alright. At least help me up so I can see them, though.”

Engie nodded, handing it to him and guiding his hands to where they should hold it before moving him up so he was sitting up and leaning against the dispenser, legs dangling over the ledge of the building.

“That good?”

“Mm.”

“Ok. I think they’re gonna start back up soon so…”

Engie hurriedly went over to the small pile of Medic’s gear he’d put down, removing his wrench from his pocket (but keeping his pistol), clipping the Medipack onto his overalls, and inspecting the Medigun’s various apparatuses.

“This one’s for uber, this one’s for shield. This dial ups the intensity and this one activates crits,” Medic said, leaning over a bit and pointing to indicate what he was talking about.

“I know that, I helped you upgrade it for Christ’s sake.”

“And I’m reminding you. You’ve never done this before and I’m worried,” Medic insisted. Engie merely moved over to push his hair back again, giving him a kiss of the forehead.

“It’ll be fine, Sunshine. I promise. Stop worryin’ your pretty little head off.”

Medic’s expression softened.

“Well you’ve never given me a reason to doubt you so. Good luck, mein Lieber. And if we uh…”  
“Yeah?”

“…If we. Fail. Or if one of us doesn’t make it, I just want you to know that I love you. I really do. Please never forget that.”

“I love you too, baby, more than you could ever know. And we’re going to make it. I know we will.”  
Medic smiled weakly, managing to bap his head against Engie’s softly.

“You should head over. The robots are coming any minute now, I know they’re expecting me. Well. You, now, I suppose.”

“Roger that, boss,” Engie grinned playfully, bapping him back before standing up and making his way down the stairs and over to where the other 7 mercenaries were huddled in a group, trying to plan out their final attacks.

“…and I think there’s gonna be another 4 tanks this time so we gotta- oh hey Tex!” Demo smiled, waving at him.

“Howdy, y'all.”

“Engineer! Is good to see you but. Where is Medic?” Heavy squinted.

“Sorry big guy, but uh. Medic’s out of commission for now.”

“So then who’s gonna…” Scout trailed off before realizing that he was holding the medigun.

“No way.”

“Yeah way.”

“You- you’re gonna be Medic now?”

“It’s either me or you die. Pick your choice.”

“Well-”

Scout paused.

“Ok, that’s fair actually.”

“What’s Medic doing then?”

Engie turned back to wave at Medic from where he was sitting on top of the building, fiddling with the Wrangler, the rest of the team turning to see him wave back.

“Huh. So you guys are switchin’ places today?”

“In a way.”

Before anyone else could say something, they were all silenced by the slight rumbling beneath there feet, looking over to the large carrier over the horizon.

“Well, enough chitter chatter. See you on the other side, everyone. I looked forward to our victory,” Spy hummed before clicking his watch, disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

Sniper nodded to everyone before heading to his usual sniping area, the others forming a sort of spaced out wall across the battlefield with Engie front and center.

“Everybody ready?” He called out as he pushed the handle of the medigun down and hovered his finger over the shield switch, getting various affirmations and war cries in response.

However, they were once again cut off by the feeling of the ground rumbling, the last of the hordes came into view. First up was dozens and dozens of robo Scouts and Demos led by a rather large Pyrobot, everyone getting a proper grip on their weapons in anticipation.

Engie let out a nervous sigh before cracking his neck on both sides, flipping the shield on, and mumbling softly to himself.

“Alright, Dell. It’s time for you to play doctor.”


End file.
